The history of Australia is the history of the area and people of the Commonwealth of Australia with its preceding Indigenous and colonial societies. Aboriginal Australians arrived on the Australian mainland by sea from Maritime Southeast Asia between 40,000 and 70,000 years ago; the artistic and spiritual traditions they established are among the longest surviving such traditions in human history. The first known landing in Australia by Europeans was by Dutch navigator Willem Janszoon in 1606; that year, Spanish explorer Luís Vaz de Torres sailed through, navigated, Torres Strait islands. Twenty-nine other Dutch navigators explored the western and southern coasts in the 17th century and dubbed the continent New Holland. Macassan trepangers visited Australia's northern coasts after 1720 earlier. Other European explorers followed until, in 1770, Lieutenant James Cook charted the east coast of Australia for Great Britain and returned with accounts favouring colonization at Botany Bay, New South Wales.

A First Fleet of British ships arrived at Botany Bay in January 1788 to establish a penal colony, the first colony on the Australian mainland. In the century that followed, the British established other colonies on the continent, European explorers ventured into its interior. Indigenous Australians were weakened and their numbers diminished by introduced diseases and conflict with the colonists during this period. Gold rushes and agricultural industries brought prosperity. Autonomous parliamentary democracies began to be established throughout the six British colonies from the mid-19th century; the colonies voted by referendum to unite in a federation in 1901, modern Australia came into being. Australia fought on the side of Britain in the two world wars and became a long-standing ally of the United States when threatened by Imperial Japan during World War II. Trade with Asia increased and a post-war immigration program received more than 6.5 million migrants from every continent. Supported by immigration of people from more than 200 countries since the end of World War II, the population increased to more than 23 million by 2014, sustains the world's 12th largest national economy.

The ancestors of Indigenous Australians are believed to have arrived in Australia 40,000 to 50,000 years ago, as early as 65,000 years ago. They developed a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, established enduring spiritual and artistic traditions and used stone technologies. At the time of first European contact, it has been estimated the existing population was at least 350,000, while recent archaeological finds suggest that a population of 750,000 could have been sustained. There is considerable archaeological discussion as to the route taken by the first colonisers. People appear to have arrived by sea during a period of glaciation, when New Guinea and Tasmania were joined to the continent. Scott Cane wrote in 2013. If they arrived around 70,000 years ago, they could have crossed the water from Timor, when the sea level was low, but if they came around 50,000 years ago, a more route would have been through the Moluccas to New Guinea. Given that the landfall regions have been under around 50 metres of water for the last 15,000 years, it is unlikely that the timing will be established with certainty.

The earliest known human remains were found at Lake Mungo, a dry lake in the southwest of New South Wales. Remains found at Mungo suggest one of the world's oldest known cremations, thus indicating early evidence for religious ritual among humans. According to Australian Aboriginal mythology and the animist framework developed in Aboriginal Australia, the Dreaming is a sacred era in which ancestral totemic spirit beings formed The Creation; the Dreaming established the laws and structures of society and the ceremonies performed to ensure continuity of life and land. It remains a prominent feature of Australian Aboriginal art. Aboriginal art is believed to be the oldest continuing tradition of art in the world. Evidence of Aboriginal art can be traced back at least 30,000 years and is found throughout Australia. In terms of age and abundance, cave art in Australia is comparable to that of Lascaux and Altamira in Europe. Manning Clark wrote that the ancestors of the Aborigines were slow to reach Tasmania owing to an ice barrier existing across the South East of the continent.

The Aborigines, he noted, did not develop agriculture owing to a lack of seed bearing plants and animals suitable for domestication. Thus, the population remained low. Clark considered that the three potential pre-European colonising powers and traders of East Asia—the Hindu-Buddhists of southern India, the Muslims of Northern India and the Chinese—each petered out in their southward advance and did not attempt a settlement across the straits separating Indonesia from Australia, but trepang fisherman did reach the north coast, which they called "Marege" or "land of the trepang". For centuries, Makassan trade flourished with Aborigines on Australia's north coast with the Yolngu people of northeast Arnhem Land; the greatest population density for Aborigines developed in the southern and eastern regions, the River Murray valley in particular. The arrival of Australia's first people affected the continent and, along with climate change, may have contributed to the extinction of Australia's megafauna.

The practice of firestick farming amongst northern Aborigines to increase the abundance of plants that attracted animals, tran

Yemrehana Krestos Church is an 11th / 12th-century Ethiopian Orthodox church located in Amhara Region, northern Ethiopia. Built of stone and wood, it was erected in the architectural tradition of the ancient Kingdom of Aksum. Located 12 miles northeast from Lalibela, the church was built in a large northeast-facing cave on the west side of Mount Abuna Yosef; until the construction of a road in 2000, according to David Phillipson, this church was reachable only after "a long day's arduous journey on foot or mule." The church is north of a village named after it. The construction of the church is credited to Yemrehana Krestos; the building is notable for its resemblance to the ancient church on Debre Damo, with walls that, according to Phillipson, "show a similar horizontal pattern of inset beams and projecting stonework", with "wooden quoins, door- and window-frames are Aksumite in style". Munro-Hay believes that the church's interior decorations make "Yimrehana Krestos the most elaborate of all known ancient Ethiopian churches."

Mural paintings high on the nave walls are considered the oldest surviving mural paintings in Ethiopia. The cave contains a second structure north of the church, which tradition describes as a palace or residence of Negus Yemrehana Krestos, but now serves as a residence and storage space for the local priests. Alvarez left a description of what the church looked like in the early 16th century, in his Prester John of the Indies. Taddesse suggests that construction of this church is related to the record of an Ethiopian delegation that came to Caliph Saladin in 1173, is recorded as presenting a letter and many gifts to the Caliph; this would agree with Phillipson's dating of this church to either the 12th century. Paul B. Henze provides a list of several other rock-hewn churches attributed to this king. South of the church is a tomb which Munro-Hay describes as "a substantial cloth-covered structure", alongside it a smaller one said to belong to his slave, Ebna Yemrehana Krestos. Munro-Hay reports he was told that in the cave behind the church "are many skeletons of monks and others, who have been buried in this holy spot, some dating from Yimrehana Krestos' time.".

Indeed, there is a large area at the back of the cave with numerous skeletons, several wrapped in reed mats. While preservation is poor, a few skulls retain their hair; the entrance of the cave is closed by a modern wall, built in the 1980s to replace an older one. Wukro Chirkos

The 2002 CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup was the second staging of the CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup. It was held in Seattle, United States and Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Second-place team Canada qualified for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2003; the winner USA qualified as host. The third-placed Mexico played against Japan in two play-off matches for qualification. Nicaragua and Belize withdrew; the first-placed Costa Rica and the second-placed Panama qualified for the Women's Gold Cup. Guyana and Montserrat withdrew, causing Suriname and U. S. Virgin Islands to win by walkover. Most Valuable Player: Tiffeny Milbrett Golden Boot: Christine Sinclair.